Body-less email for asynchronous chat-like communications and email-chat integration

ABSTRACT

A system and method integrate synchronous electronic (e.g., chat) communications with asynchronous electronic communications in the form of body-less electronic mail messages (emails). Body-less emails have a subject line but lack a message body capable of receiving message content. When converting a synchronous electronic communication into a body-less email, a processor places each text message of the synchronous electronic communication into the subject line of the body-less email. When converting a received body-less email into a synchronous electronic communication, the processor places each text message in the subject line of the body-less email into a chat format. A user can readily transition between asynchronous and synchronous communications.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application claiming the benefit ofco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/734,920, filed Dec. 12,2003, titled “Body-less email for asynchronous chat-like communicationsand email-chat integration”, the entirety of which U.S. patentapplication, is incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to electronic mail and chat systems.More particularly, the invention relates to an electronic mail systemand method for communicating chat-like electronic mail messages.

BACKGROUND

Electronic mail or email and chat are widespread software tools forcommunicating among computer users. Email enables users to communicateasynchronously, whereas chat communication occurs synchronously. Onoccasion, users are unable to engage in synchronous chat because one ofthe parties is not online or his computer system lacks chat capability.In such situations, the users may resort to email to conduct a chat-likeconversation. When using email to conduct a chat, a user may type hisbrief message into the subject header, because chat messages arecharacteristically brief, leaving the body of the email message empty.Transmitting email messages without content, however, wastes bandwidth.Further, chats typically involve a series of many brief messages, which,when conducted with email messages, only increases the amount ofbandwidth needed to carry email traffic with no content. Email messagesalso tend to remain for considerable periods in a user's mailbox, thusoccupying local computer and server memory for what is, in effect, blankcontent. There is, therefore, a need for a system and method that canuse email for chat-like communications can without the aforementioneddisadvantages.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, the invention features a computer program product forcommunicating with a user of a processor-based device over a network.The computer program product comprises a computer readable storagemedium having computer readable program code embodied therewith. Thecomputer readable program code comprises computer readable program codeconfigured to convert a synchronous electronic communication into abody-less electronic mail message having a subject line and lacking amessage body capable of receiving message content; and computer readableprogram code configured to place, in response to converting thesynchronous electronic communication into a body-less electronic mailmessage, at least one text message transmitted as part of thesynchronous communication into the subject line of the body-lesselectronic mail message.

In another aspect, the invention features a computer program product forcommunicating with a user of a processor-based device over a network.The computer program product comprises a computer readable storagemedium having computer readable program code embodied therewith. Thecomputer readable program code comprises computer readable program codeconfigured to convert a received synchronous electronic communicationinto a body-less electronic mail message having a subject line andlacking a message body capable of receiving message content; andcomputer readable program code configured to place each text message ofthe received synchronous electronic communication into the subject lineof the body-less electronic mail message when converting the receivedsynchronous electronic communication into the body-less electronic mailmessage; and computer readable program code configured to convert areceived body-less electronic mail message into a synchronous electroniccommunication.

In yet another aspect, the invention features a computing systemcomprising a processor executing computer readable program codeconfigured to convert a synchronous electronic communication into abody-less electronic mail message having a subject line and lacking amessage body capable of receiving message content. The processor places,in response to converting the synchronous electronic communication intothe body-less electronic mail message, at least one text messagetransmitted as part of the synchronous communication into the subjectline of the body-less electronic mail message.

In still another aspect, the invention features a method ofcommunicating with a user of a processor-based device over a network.The method comprises converting a synchronous communication into abody-less electronic mail message having a subject line and lacking amessage body capable of receiving message content, and placing, inresponse to converting the synchronous communication, at least one textmessage transmitted as part of the synchronous communication into thesubject line of the body-less electronic mail message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and further advantages of this invention may be betterunderstood by referring to the following description in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which like numerals indicate likestructural elements and features in various figures. The drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed uponillustrating the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a prior art electronic mail message having amessage body.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a body-less electronic mail message of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic mail systemconstructed in accordance with the principles of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of example of a display of a mailbox having aplurality of email messages including an mChat message, the entirety ofthe contents of the mChat message being displayed in a drop-down list.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a display of a mailbox having aplurality of email messages including an mChat message, the contents ofthe mChat message being partially displayed in a scrollable bar.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of converting between mChatmessage and chat conversation formats.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Users of computer systems or processor-based devices connected to awired or wireless network can communicate with each other throughchat-like electronic mail messages of the present invention, hereafterreferred to as mail-chat or mChat messages. An integration of electronicmail (email) and chat, the present invention features techniques fortranslating between mChat and chat formats to enable users to switchbetween asynchronous and synchronous communication as theircircumstances require. Thus, colleagues can benefit from the advantagesof chat (i.e., informal, terse statements within the context of previouscommunications) in an asynchronous and persistent format provided byemail. MChat messages generally reduce the communications bandwidthneeded to transmit an email message over a network and the memory neededto store an email message on email server systems, local client computersystems, and hand-held devices (e.g., cell phones, personal digitalassistants or PDAs).

FIG. 1 shows a view of an example of a prior art email message 10 havinga “To” line 14, a “Cc” line 18, a “Subject:” line 22, and a message body26, as presented to a user who is writing a message. In contrast, FIG. 2shows a view of an embodiment of an mChat message 40 of the invention.The mChat message 40 includes a “To” line 44, an optional “Cc” line 48,and a “Subject” line 52. Unlike the prior art email message 10 of FIG.1, the mChat message 40 lacks a message body and is referred to as“body-less” email message. Other terms for referring to mChat messagesinclude “header-only” and “subject-line-only” email messages. In oneembodiment, the mChat contains only the email header (including thesubject line). This embodiment achieves optimal economies in messagetransmission and storage. In another embodiment, the mChat message 40can carry attachments and support other text lines such as a “Bcc” line,in the same manner as conventional email. This richer embodimentpreserves the chat-like message format and the inter-translatability tochat, and also allows the mChat to carry additional data or attachmentsfor user tasks.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a client system 50 constructed inaccordance with the invention. The client system 50 can be any personalcomputer (e.g., 286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium II, Macintosh computer),Windows-based terminal, Network Computer, wireless device, informationappliance, RISC Power PC, X-device, workstation, mini-computer,mainframe computer, cell phone, online gaming device such as Microsoft'sXBOX™ or Sony's PLAYSTATION™, and personal digital assistant (PDA) orother computing device that has hardware 54 such as a display screen,one or more input devices (e.g., keypad, stylus, keyboard, mouse,touch-pad, and trackball), and a processor for executing applicationprograms and sufficient persistent storage for storing such applicationprograms and related information. One such application program is anelectronic mail client program 58 of the invention.

The email client program 58 can be any proprietary email client programor any commercially available email client program, such as Lotus NOTES™and Microsoft OUTLOOK™, modified to support mChat messaging of theinvention. Embodiments of email programs constructed in accordance withthe invention support mChat types of messages alone or in combinationwith conventional email messages. Optionally, another applicationprogram run by the client system 50 is a chat client program 60 (shownin phantom), which enables the user of the client system 50 to engage insynchronous communications with another chat user over the network 70.As described in connection with FIG. 6, either program 58, 60 can launchthe other when users desire to transition between asynchronous andsynchronous communications. The email client program 58 and optionalchat client program 60 run on an operating system 62. Examples ofoperating systems supported by the client system 50 include Windows 3.x,Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows XP,Windows CE, Macintosh, Java, LINUX, and UNIX.

The client system 50 also includes a network interface 66 forcommunicating over a network 70. The network 70 can be a local-areanetwork (LAN), a metro-area network (MAN), or wide-area network (WAN),such as the Internet or World Wide Web. Users of the client system 50can connect to the network 70 through one of a variety of connections,such as standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (e.g., T1, T3),broadband connections (Frame Relay, ATM), and wireless connections(e.g., 802.11(a), 802.11(b), 802.11(g)). The email client program 58communicates with an email server 74 located on the network 70. Users ofthe client system 50 initiate and participate in chat-like electronicconversations using mChat messages over the network 70 with other usersof mChat-enabled computing systems.

To generate a first mChat message of a mChat conversation, a userlaunches the email client program 58 on the local computing system 50.When the user indicates to the email client program 58 an intention togenerate a new mChat message, the email client program 58 displays bydefault an mChat message (similar to the mChat message 14 of FIG. 2) orpresents a menu to the user in which an mChat message is a selectableitem. The user enters the email address of each recipient into the Toand Cc lines, 44, 48, types his message into the Subject line 52, andsends the mChat message towards its destination. Because the mChatmessage 14 lacks a message body, it requires less bandwidth to betransmitted over the network 70.

A recipient of the mChat message 14 can perpetuate the mChatconversation by responding. The recipient initiates a response byselecting a reply (e.g., to the sender only or to all recipients listed)or a forward operation presented by the mChat-enabled email programoperating on the recipient's computing system. The mChat-enabled emailclient program recognizes that the type of email message being respondedto is an mChat message, and, thus, produces a new mChat message in kind.Optionally, the recipient can choose to respond with a conventionalemail message instead of with an mChat message.

When first presented to the user generating the response, this new mChatmessage automatically includes the previous text message of the sender(located in the Subject line of that mChat message) within the Subjectline of the new mChat message. At the beginning of the Subject line, theuser adds her message, preferably leaving the text message of the senderin the Subject line after her message so that the entirety of the mChatconversation is in the Subject line. One embodiment permits the previoustext message to be deleted, another embodiment does not.

Although individual chat messages are typically brief, chatconversations can become extensive. The email client program 58statically or dynamically allocates sufficient memory to the Subjectline 52 of the mChat message 14 to support the length of the mChatconversation. When each previous chat message (hereafter, chat entry) ispreserved, the sequence of chat entries appears in the Subject line 52in a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) order (i.e., in a reverse temporal order).The email client program 58 preferably provides formatting for thesequence of chat entries that delineates between chat entries in theSubject line 52. Optionally, the email client program 58 “signs” eachentry of the mChat message with the identity of the author.

The particular formatting implemented by the email client program 58 todelineate between chat entries can vary without departing from theprinciples of the invention. In one embodiment, the email client program58 adds a reply delimiter “RE:” before the immediately previous chatentry. An example using the reply delimiter to delineate between chatentries is illustrated by the text immediately below representing theSubject line contents of an mChat message. For a temporal reading of themChat conversion below, chat entries are read from bottom to top. Themost recent chat entry appears as the first line of text (or the topline) in the Subject line 52. Note that the following example also usescarriage returns to delineate between chat entries so that each chatentry appears on a new line on a display. In one embodiment, the emailclient program 58 automatically embeds a carriage return after each chatentry to achieve this display formatting. In another embodiment, themChat conversation appears on a single line, and the only delineationbetween chat entries are the reply delimiters. The Subject line 52 forone exemplary mChat conversation comprised of 5 mChat messages reads asfollows:

-   I've set up the meeting for Tuesday at LOAM. Let me know if this is    acceptable. <d>-   Re: Any time Tuesday or Wednesday.—S.-   Re: How about next week? <d>-   Re: If you are talking about this week, then Thursday at 2 PM is my    only possibility.—S.-   Re: I am attempting to schedule a meeting to discuss the status of    the project. Please send me your availability. Thanks, <d>

As another example, carets (>), instead of reply delimiters, are used todelineate between chat entries. Illustrating this example with the samemChat conversation of the previous example, the email client program 58adds another caret to each existing chat entry already in the messagewhen a new chat entry is added to the mChat conversation. The Subjectline 52 reads as follows:

-   I′ve set up the meeting for Tuesday at LOAM. Let me know if this is    acceptable. <m>-   >Any time Tuesday or Wednesday.—S.-   >>How about next week? <m>-   >>>If you are talking about this week, then Thursday at 2 PM is my    only possibility.—S.-   >>>>I am attempting to schedule a meeting to discuss the status of    the project. Please send me your availability. Thanks, <m>

The preceding examples illustrate two of many techniques possible fordelineating between chat entries. Other techniques include appending orprepending the identity of the author to the chat entry, numbering theentries, and inserting other special characters, visible or invisible(e.g., carriage return and new line). Another embodiment is to use nodelimiters; this technique can rely on the reader to discern betweenchat entries.

Like conventional email messages, the email client program 50 displaysmChat messages in a graphical mailbox view listing each email message inthe mailbox. Each mChat message appears in the list as a single lineitem in the mailbox view (specifically, in the “inbox” folder of themailbox for a new mChat message). FIG. 4 shows an example embodiment ofa mailbox view 100 displayed to the user listing those emails currentlylocated in the user's inbox. Above the list of emails are columnheadings for identifying the sender 104, the date 108, the subject 112,and the memory size 116 for each email message. The email client program58 displays a default number of characters of the Subject line 52. Theuser can change this default number, but the maximum width of thesubject column 112 remains limited by the number of characters and othercolumns in a line item. MChat messages are identified by a particularicon or other identifier that appears in the same line item as thatmChat message. Here, the identifier is “< >”, which appears before thesubject line of each mChat message.

To read the contents of an mChat message, the user positions the cursor120 over the subject field of the mChat message. In one embodiment, this“mouse-over” operation causes the contents of the Subject line 52 of themChat message to be displayed in its entirety as, for example, adrop-down list 124 with the most recent chat entry on the top line ofthe list 124 and the history of previous chat entries appearing belowthe most recent chat entry. Depending upon the length of the mChatconversation, the contents of the Subject line covers the mChat messagebeing read and possibly one or more of the other email messages in theview immediately below. Thus, the user reads the mChat conversation inits entirety while in the inbox view, without having to open the mChatmessage. (Double-clicking on the mChat message using the graphical inputdevice (e.g., mouse), as is done regularly to open a conventional emailmessage, in one embodiment produces no response for an mChat message.Another embodiment responds to the double-click operation by displayingthe drop-down list 124.)

In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 5, the mouse-over operation causesscrolling arrows 150-1, 150-2 (generally, 150) to appear at each end ofthe subject column 112 of that mChat message. By positioning the cursor120 over the left or right arrow 150, the user horizontally scrolls leftor right, respectively, through the contents 124′ in the Subject line 52of the mChat message. In another embodiment, the user drags the text inthe subject column 112 with the cursor 120 to scroll horizontallythrough the contents 124′ in the left or right direction. In theseembodiments, the number of characters that can be read at one time islimited to the width of the subject column 112, but reading the mChatmessage does not occlude any other messages in the mailbox view.

Some devices for reading email, such as personal digital assistants orPDAs, do not have a cursor that can be graphically positioned over anmChat message line item. For such computing devices, the user employsthe particular technique of the particular device for selecting an emailmessage. Referring to PDAs, for example, the user positions a stylusover the mChat message line item in the mailbox view and with it pressesthe screen display. In another embodiment, the user moves the current“focus” of the device to the desired mChat message, and waits; after abrief interval (typically a half-second), the device begins to scrollthe contents of the mChat message that is the current focus.

In one embodiment, the email client program 58 generates an alert eventwhen an mChat message is received. For example, the alert can include agraphical window appearing on the user's graphical user interface, thewindow having conventional chat-like features. A message accompanyingthis window can indicate that the sending party may not be online, andthus unavailable to engage in chat. The email client program 58 producesthis alert directly or invokes the chat client program 60 to produce it.

FIG. 6 shows an example of two-way conversions between mChat message andchat conversation formats. If a user so chooses, he can convert anasynchronous mChat message 14 into a synchronous chat 180, or asynchronous chat 180 into an asynchronous mChat message 14. For anasynchronous to the synchronous format conversion, upon the user'sspecific command, e.g., by clicking a graphical button or selecting anitem in a pull down menu while the mChat message 14 is selected, theemail client program 58 launches the chat client program 60, reformatsthe contents of the Subject line 52 of the mChat message 14 into a chatformat (e.g., by reordering the chat entries so that first chat entry inthe list becomes the last and the last chat entry becomes the first andby inserting the author's name in front of each particular chat entry),and pastes the reformatted Subject line 52 contents into the chat window180. The chat window 180 then appears on the display screen of each chatparticipant. Provided each participant is online, they can resume theircommunications synchronously.

Conversely, if the participants currently engaged in a synchronousfree-form chat want to continue their conversation asynchronously,either participant can cause the full contents of the chat to beconverted into an mChat message. In this event, the chat server convertsthe contents of the chat conversation into the format of an mChatmessage (i.e., reversing the order of chat entries and insertingdelimiters as described above), and pastes it into the Subject line 52of the mChat message 14. Optionally, the attribution associated witheach chat entry in the chat conversation can be removed when convertingfrom the chat format to the mChat message format. The mChat message 14is then electronically mailed to each chat participant (now to becomemChat participants). In another embodiment, the email server 74 sendsthe mChat message to the mChat participants.

The present invention may be implemented as one or morecomputer-readable software programs embodied on or in one or morearticles of manufacture. The article of manufacture can be, for example,any one or combination of a floppy disk, a hard disk, hard-disk drive, aCD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a flash memory card, an EEPROM, an EPROM, a PROM, aRAM, a ROM, or a magnetic tape. In general, any standard or proprietary,programming or interpretive language can be used to produce thecomputer-readable software programs. Examples of such languages includeC, C++, Pascal, JAVA, BASIC, Visual Basic, and Visual C++. The softwareprograms may be stored on or in one or more articles of manufacture assource code, object code, interpretive code, or executable code.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tospecific preferred embodiments, it should be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and detail may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedby the following claims.

1. A computer program product for communicating with a user of aprocessor-based device over a network, the computer program productcomprising: a non-transitory computer readable storage medium havingcomputer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readableprogram code comprising: computer readable program code configured toconvert a synchronous electronic communication into a body-lesselectronic mail message having a subject line and lacking a message bodycapable of receiving message content; and computer readable program codeconfigured to place, in response to converting the synchronouselectronic communication into a body-less electronic mail message, eachtext message of the synchronous communication into the subject line ofthe body-less electronic mail message.
 2. The computer program productof claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configuredto convert, in response to a command from a user, a received body-lesselectronic mail message into a synchronous electronic communication andto initiate synchronous communications with a sender of the receivedbody-less electronic mail message.
 3. The computer program product ofclaim 2, further comprising computer readable program code configured topresent an option to the user to choose between replying to the receivedbody-less electronic mail message with an electronic mail message havinga message body or with a body-less electronic mail message lacking amessage body.
 4. The computer program product of claim 1, furthercomprising computer readable program code configured to present anoption to a user, in response to a command to generate a new electronicmail message, to choose between generating a body-less electronic mailmessage and generating an electronic mail message with a message body.5. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computerreadable program code configured to display a given body-less electronicmail message on a display screen as a line item in a mailbox view and anindicator with the line item to identify the line item as a body-lesselectronic mail message.
 6. A computer program product for communicatingwith a user of a processor-based device over a network, the computerprogram product comprising: a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, thecomputer readable program code comprising: computer readable programcode configured to convert a received synchronous electroniccommunication into a body-less electronic mail message having a subjectline and lacking a message body capable of receiving message content,computer readable program code configured to place each text message ofthe received synchronous electronic communication into the subject lineof the body-less electronic mail message when converting the receivedsynchronous electronic communication into the body-less electronic mailmessage; and computer readable program code configured to convert areceived body-less electronic mail message into a synchronous electroniccommunication.
 7. The computer program product of claim 6, furthercomprising computer readable program code configured to present anoption to a user to choose between replying to the received body-lesselectronic mail message with an electronic mail message having a messagebody or with a body-less electronic mail message lacking a message body.8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising computerreadable program code configured to present an option to a user, inresponse to a command to generate a new electronic mail message, tochoose between generating a body-less electronic mail message andgenerating an electronic mail message with a message body.
 9. Thecomputer program product of claim 6, further comprising computerreadable program code configured to display the received body-lesselectronic mail message on a display screen as a line item in a mailboxview and an indicator with the line item to identify the line item as abody-less electronic mail message.
 10. A computing system comprising: aprocessor executing computer readable program code configured to converta synchronous electronic communication into a body-less electronic mailmessage having a subject line and lacking a message body capable ofreceiving message content, the processor placing, in response toconverting the synchronous electronic communication into the body-lesselectronic mail message, each text message of the synchronouscommunication into the subject line of the body-less electronic mailmessage.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor executescomputer readable program code configured to convert, in response to acommand from a user, a received body-less electronic mail message into asynchronous electronic communication.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the processor executes computer readable program code configuredto present an option to a user to choose between replying to thereceived body-less electronic mail message with an electronic mailmessage having a message body or with a body-less electronic mailmessage lacking a message body.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein theprocessor executes computer readable program code configured to initiatesynchronous communications with a sender of the received body-lesselectronic mail message after converting the received body-lesselectronic mail message into a synchronous communication.
 14. The systemof claim 10, wherein the processor executes computer readable programcode configured to present an option to a user, in response to a commandto generate a new electronic mail message, to choose between generatinga body-less electronic mail message and generating an electronic mailmessage with a message body.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein theprocessor executes computer readable program code configured to displaya given body-less electronic mail message on a display screen as a lineitem in a mailbox view and an indicator with the line item to identifythe line item as a body-less electronic mail message.
 16. A method ofcommunicating with a user of a processor-based device over a network,the method comprising: converting a synchronous communication into abody-less electronic mail message having a subject line and lacking amessage body capable of receiving message content; and placing, inresponse to converting the synchronous communication, each text messageof the synchronous communication into the subject line of the body-lesselectronic mail message.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprisingconverting, in response to a command from the user, the body-lesselectronic mail message into a synchronous electronic communication. 18.The method of claim 16, further comprising presenting an option to auser to choose between replying to a received body-less electronic mailmessage with an electronic mail message having a message body or with abody-less electronic mail message lacking a message body.
 19. The methodof claim 16, further comprising presenting an option to a user, inresponse to a command to generate a new electronic mail message, tochoose between generating a body-less electronic mail message andgenerating an electronic mail message with a message body.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising displaying a given body-lesselectronic mail message on a display screen as a line item in a mailboxview and an indicator with the line item to identify the line item as abody-less electronic mail message.